


Dance Now

by executiverebels



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: F/M, han/leia - Freeform, scoundress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 11:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13294332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/executiverebels/pseuds/executiverebels
Summary: Leia's mother had once told her that there wouldn't always be time to dance with the ones we love, so dance now. Leia realizes how true those words are as her and Han are stuck on the Falcon on their way to Bespin.





	Dance Now

Being stuck in the garbage can of ship, with the garbage can of a pilot was not how Leia wanted to spend her time. She should have been with the rebellion, helping set up their next base. Instead she was sitting by the dejarik table in the Falcon, while Han and Chewie tried to find a fix for the Falcon. Though Leia knew it was hopeless it would take them forever to get to Bespin and they might as well settle down for the long haul. 

“Try not to look so thrilled,” Han told her, entering the hold, a rag draped over his shoulder, he was covered in engine grease. He had removed his vest while he was working but his once white shirt was now more of a nasty brown color.

“Well it’s hard not to be when I am stuck in space, running low on fuel, and I have you and Chewie for my only companions. Don’t get me wrong, Chewie is great, but you...” Leia said,letting the sentence hang, leaning back against the couch with a sly smile on her face. 

Han just rolled his eyes, “Well cheer up princess, it’s gonna be a long ride,” He tossed the rag in a small basket that had a couple other rags in it, and made his way over to a crate by table and started digging around in it. 

“What are you doing,” She asked skeptically crawling over to his side of the couch trying to peer over his shoulder into the crate. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he grunted back, still digging. He seemed to find what he was looking for as he made a celebratory noise. 

“What is it?” She inquired again still trying to look over his shoulder. He didn’t respond to her inquiry outside of a quick smirk. He walked over to the technical station in the corner and placed whatever the object was down. She stood up from the couch to try and figure out what it was and then she heard the sound of music filling the area. She saw the crappy little holo-music player and smiled. 

Han grinned at her, “Can I have a dance?” he asked her holding out his hand to her, she had a hard time deciding if he was serious or not, his voice sounded almost sarcastic, but his eyes didn’t look like he was joking. 

She stared at the hand for a long moment, a million emotions flooding her head, and she looked back up at Han, “Your ridiculous, She said with a dramatic eye roll, it hadn’t been the response her heart had wanted to give, but it was the only one she could allow herself to give. 

Han’s face fell for just a moment before his mood bounced right back up, “If you say so Princess,” he said his grin returning. “Chewie!” He hollered to the cockpit. The Wookie came clambering down into the hold growling slightly. “Want to dance?” Han asked him once he was in the room. The wookie made a grumbling sound and next thing she knew Han and the Wookie were slow dancing in the hold. Leia couldn’t help but let the laughter that was bubbling inside of her out.

She knew she shouldn't’ be enjoying herself, she should be miserable sitting here stuck in space, but looking at the smuggler and his wookie companion dancing around the room she couldn't help but let the laughter out. She thought about the rebels fleeing Hoth and hoped everybody had made it out alright, she thought about the good soldiers that hadn’t made it off, and then she spiral even farther into thinking about Alderaan. How dare she be here laughing at these silly men after so many people had given up their lives for the cause. She caught Han’s eyes who definitely noticed that her mood had fallen and started to act even goofier. She couldn’t manage the laughter again but it definitely brought a smile to her face. 

*

They were coming near the end of their trip. Han said they would reach Bespin and his friend Lando. Part of her was excited to finally get off this ship and out of space, but another part of her was actually going to miss the trip. She sat curled up in the copilots chair watching out the view port. It was odd watching the stars move at a normal speed for so long, but it had become a comforting sight. 

“You doing okay in here princess?” she heard Han ask entering the cockpit. She felt his hand touch the back of the seat she was sitting in. 

"I am alright, it’s weird that we are almost done with the journey,” She responded looking up at him.

“You gonna miss being in this close of quarters for so long,” He asked her cockily, that smug grin filling his face. She tried hard not to smile at the grin. 

“I can’t wait to get as far away from you as possible,” She responded snappily. 

“Well you better watch out when we get there, Lando is more of a scoundrel than I am,” he said. 

“Why would that matter?” She responded. 

“Oh no reason,” He said grinning back. She rolled her eyes and looked back out through the viewport, “Hey, I need to show you something,” he added.

“What? She asked getting up to follow him he didn’t respond but led her out of the cockpit and down into the main hold, “What are you doing?” She asked. He didn’t respond again and went over to the technical station fiddling with something, “Han?” She whined trying to figure out what he was doing, and she heard the sound of music filling the room, like it had one of those first days stuck in this stupid, wonderful ship. 

“Can I have this dance?” Han asked her again like he had on that first night, his eyes were much more serious this time than they had been that time. She took a deep breath and thought through all of the emotions swirling through her: guilt, happiness, and some other feelings that she was trying really hard to push down. 

Finally she nodded and took his hands, letting him pull her in. They danced slowly, the song was some melodramatic love song, but she didn’t supercare about what was playing. She was intimately aware of Han’s hand in hers, and of his hand on her hip, she was equally aware of the tension of Han’s shoulder, the flexing as he twirled her around the room. Part of her knew that she shouldn’t be dancing and enjoying herself while the world was falling apart, but she remembered a conversation she had had with her mother when she was just a teenager “So dance now,” she muttered to herself.

“What was that?” He asked. 

“So dance now,” She repeated, “When I was sixteen my mother told me to go to a ball on Coruscant that I didn’t want to go to because I didn’t feel it was fair to go to a ball while the galaxy was in shambles, and my mother told that that was why I should go to the ball.”

“You never talk about your family,” He mentioned quietly. 

“She said that we won’t always have the chance to dance with the ones we...care about, so dance now,” She said hesitating before she said care, ignoring his statement. Her mother had originally said love, but she wasn’t going to say that in front of Han, “I can’t dance with a lot of people anymore, so I need to take advantage of the people I can dance with.” 

She allowed herself to rest her head on his chest, allowing herself to be vulnerable for just a moment. He didn’t respond to her words, but simply pressed a kiss to the top of her head. They stayed like that for a while, in comforting peace, swaying slowly even when the music sped up.

**Author's Note:**

> I really loved the part in the Princess of Alderaan where her and her mother talked about how she deserved to have fun at times. It really hit a spot so I had to write this.


End file.
